Rejected for Artifacts -- can you tell me where/what?

[spiffycat]

[Szalam]

The whole image at 100% zoom looks really badly pixelated. Almost as if it was enlarged digitally.

I mean, the whole thing looks bad, but I've circled a particularly bad spot.

[spiffycat]

Huh. At 100% zoom, it doesn't look at all pixelated to me (what are you using to zoom in? your version does indeed look terrible) and the version I uploaded certainly wasn't digitally enlarged. You have circled light reflections in the water droplet. I don't see it, but I'll just shrug my shoulders and move on.

[Szalam]

I know what it is reflecting, but the over-sharpening is very apparent in that spot.

I just viewed it at 100% size in the browser window and in Photoshop. Let me try to demonstrate a better example that's actually pixelly instead of just looking oversharpened.

What resolution/size is your monitor? It might be hiding these issues from you.

[spiffycat]

My display is 1920x1200. So do you think it's oversharpened or just that the contrast between the blown-out highlights in the water is too much for the display to handle, especially when sharpened? I could go back to the RAW file and reprocess with slightly less sharpening...

[Szalam]

I'm not sure. I mean, it looks really pixelated and steppy.